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Encouragement needed!


jjsacn

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Just wondering if I will ever manage this?

I learnt programming with Algol68 more years ago than i care to remember but with that background have managed to teach myself VBA and HTML when I needed to use them.

PHP and MySQL were new to me but when I needed to set up an internet shop for a business that is to be run more as a charity than a profit making concern, and I was recommended to look at osCommerce, I decided to give it a go. With much reading on this site, many internet searches and finally some PHP and MySQL reference books when I knew enough to choose the ones I thought would be most helpful, I have managed to understand ..well a little bit anyway, something of how this whole thing hangs together but every so often, particularly reading posts about security etc I have this overwhelming feeling I have taken on far more than I can manage.

I admit most of the posts on security are way over my head at the moment, not sure I even understand all the words, but I am learning fast so please tell me what you think - Am I crazy to think I can do this? Is it somthing better left to those more in the know than me? or if I keep going will I somehow achieve an acceptable level of success?

 

Thanks to everyone that posts on here, without it I don't think I could have got as far as I have.

 

Julie

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My advise is take small steps...

 

Do some little jobs initially, like modify contact page, then as you improve & grow in confidence you'll be happier taking on the bigger tasks.

 

 

Happy coding. :)

Sam

 

Remember, What you think I ment may not be what I thought I ment when I said it.

 

Contributions:

 

Auto Backup your Database, Easy way

 

Multi Images with Fancy Pop-ups, Easy way

 

Products in columns with multi buy etc etc

 

Disable any Category or Product, Easy way

 

Secure & Improve your account pages et al.

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Just wondering if I will ever manage this?

I learnt programming with Algol68 more years ago than i care to remember but with that background have managed to teach myself VBA and HTML when I needed to use them.

PHP and MySQL were new to me but when I needed to set up an internet shop for a business that is to be run more as a charity than a profit making concern, and I was recommended to look at osCommerce, I decided to give it a go. With much reading on this site, many internet searches and finally some PHP and MySQL reference books when I knew enough to choose the ones I thought would be most helpful, I have managed to understand ..well a little bit anyway, something of how this whole thing hangs together but every so often, particularly reading posts about security etc I have this overwhelming feeling I have taken on far more than I can manage.

I admit most of the posts on security are way over my head at the moment, not sure I even understand all the words, but I am learning fast so please tell me what you think - Am I crazy to think I can do this? Is it somthing better left to those more in the know than me? or if I keep going will I somehow achieve an acceptable level of success?

 

Thanks to everyone that posts on here, without it I don't think I could have got as far as I have.

 

Julie

 

I was in your shoes about 15 months ago with OSC and PHP. Code is still "greek" at times. What I have learned, and thank God that was from day 1, whatever you do, backup your site first. There have been many changes I have made that the best solution was to restore from a new backup.

 

Most contributions that are available here have great instructions in loading them, but you must "read the manual" first.

 

A great utility called "compare and Merge" is available online, that allows you to quickly make new code changes, with a point and click. It has saved me endless hours of work with OSC.

 

I have also made a notebook with the many step by step customizations that can be done to a new shop, so that I do not have to research the solutions again in the future.

 

And lastly, the help on this forum has been exceptional more times than not, but they get frustrated with us "newbies" that do not reasearch a solution first!!!!

 

Fred Brace

Frederick C Brace,III PA-C

www.21st-tees.com (osc)

www.tanda-designs.com (osc)

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Thanks, I guess everyone had to start somewhere.

 

Definitely started with small steps Sam but now have some extensive modifications - just hope I haven't inadvertantly lost anything important. I have to admit I spent a while doing some and then found they were in the contributions area - should have looked more thoroughly first I guess but at least it helped me understand more of the code. I very much appreciated your recent post (think it was yours) on osCsid. I had worked some of it out but it helped clarify.

 

I've reverted to backups neumerous times Fred. Learnt that lesson many years ago! How long did it take you to get up a live shop? I am still messing with the basic code but before long going to have to investigate SSL, PCI, SEO, payment modules etc. - a whole new learning curve, that's where the 'greek' starts for me.

I hadn't found the online 'compare and merge' but did discover very quickly notepad ++ was way better for editing then notepad which I had been using for HTML and then I am also using a free trial of 'Beyond Compare' and wondering however I managed without it. Think I may need to buy it. I can't always work online unfortunately.

 

I am hoping most of what I get stuck with is already covered on here somewhere so I won't need to ask questions. Even I get frustrated by seeing the same questions repeated when I know the answers are easily accessible, often in the introductory sticky at the top of each section, because I've already looked and found them. I do sympathise with those struggling though, without the programming background I wouldn't stand a chance.

 

Thanks both of you for taking the time to add your encouragements. Its really appreciated because I was at the point of giving up.

 

Julie

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